1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to vehicle body constructions and more particularly to a safety structure of a vehicle body adjacent an instrument panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of a structure of a vehicle body adjacent an instrument panel is disclosed in the Japanese Provisional Utility Model Publication No. 58-32023 and also shown in FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 3, an instrument stay 10 is T-shaped in structure and consists of a horizontal rigid member 12 disposed adjacently rearwards of an air box 14 and secured to same, and a pair of depending rigid members 16 depending from the intermediate portion of the horizontal member 12 to be connected to a vehicle body floor tunnel portion 18. A vehicle equipment such as an air conditioner 20 is located between the instrument stay 10 and a dash lower panel 22 to be attached to the air box 14 and the dash lower panel 22. The air conditioner 20 includes a heater unit 24 just in front of the depending part of the instrument stay 10, a fan unit 26 in the vicinity of a front door hinge pillar 28 on the side of a front passenger seat 32 and a cooling unit 30 intermediate between the fan unit 26 and the heater unit 24 and in front of the front passenger seat 32. An instrument pad 33 is secured to the instrument stay 10, air box 14, etc. by means of brackets and screws.
The foregoing structure is disadvantageous from the safety point of view since upon a head-on collision or the like the constituent units of the air conditioner 20 except for the unit just in front of the depending part of the instrument stay 10, i.e., the fan unit 26 and the cooling unit 30 are pushed out from their correct places to move toward the front passenger seat 32.